Concatenación virtual de OPUk

Actor: bialik rogozin school in tel aviv

Project duration: since 2005 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qlvr2zsdwu Target group: Children in the south of tel aviv (as well as their parents)

use intercultural exchange and study to promote the appreciation and acceptance of each other’s cultures while strengthening a common identity.

Implementation

The Bialik Rogozin School’s 1,300 students between the 1st and 12th grades come from 51 different countries and represent nearly all religions. School operations draw on a comprehensive pedagogical and social concept. Every child is given individual support. Games, sports and art are central elements while the various cultures of the students are also woven into the curriculum. The educational concept includes acquiring the official languages as well as promoting the students’ various native languages. The school also supports the development of a common Israeli identity, including the celebration of collective holidays

Starting context

The southern suburbs of Tel Aviv are home to many migrant workers and refugees living under precarious conditions, oftentimes without an official residence permit. This makes for a broad bandwidth of regional and cultural origins, ranging from immigrant families from the former Soviet Union and the Philippines to refugees from African countries. As challenging socioeconomic conditions make it difficult for parents to put their children through school, this burden often falls to the children themselves.

Objectives

The Bialik Rogozin School not only offers children a home, it also exposes them to varying perspectives for a better future. In its broadly diverse environment, the school’s vision is to

bIalIk rogozIn sChool In tel avIv loCal projeCts

What makes the project unique

The Bialik Rogozin School is a model of quality academic education, humanity and living in intercultural diversity. It provides children a peaceful place (a home) amid an otherwise difficult environment.

Key implementation factors

• Intercultural competence: The students develop a common Israeli identity while learning to understand and appreciate the diverse cultures of their classmates.

• Personal commitment: The school’s

intensive, individual supervision of children – in which their personal skills are of primary concern – and the commitment of the faculty, in particular the school principal Eli Nechama, are critical factors for its success.

• Civil society engagement: Parents, volunteers and civil society organizations are all involved in the curriculum, while the students themselves are motivated to engage with their community.

and national symbols as elements of the school routine. To provide the children with an inclusive home and a secure location, the school is open all day long. The children receive warm meals and, when necessary, psychological support and health insurance.

The Bialik Rogozin School cooperates closely with volunteers, civil society organizations and private enterprise. This configuration requires social engagement from the students themselves, while parents are incorporated into the schoolwork and can enroll in programs such as free language courses. The school is financed through public funds (state and local government) and private donations.

Impact and reach

The school has enjoyed enormous success. Over 90 % of the students finish school with a high- school diploma – this is higher than the national average. Numerous international partnerships and the school’s high media coverage are proof of the concept’s global recognition. Strangers No More, a documentary film about the Bialik Rogozin School, won an Academy Award in 2011. The Bialik Rogozin School was the subject of a book by Norbert Kron, published in Germany in 2017, titled “Ein Zuhause in der Fremde” (A home away from home). The school is also a partner school of the UNESCO school in Essen, Germany.

loCal projeCts abrahams barn and the IdentIFICatIon leads to empathy methods From sIgtuna

using images, photos, video clips etc. The name Abrahams Barn relates to the three most prevalent (Abrahamic) religions in 1990s Sweden – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – but the approach is not limited to them and also welcomes those with no confessional faith.

Impact and reach

The approach began in 1991 as a classroom project in the Stockholm suburb of Sigtuna and was then incorporated by the Sigtuna

Starting context

Sweden was the first European country to introduce integrative religious education in the classroom. “Religionskunskap,” the Swedish term for joint spiritual instruction, addresses religions, worldviews and ethics as well as religious and ideological diversity and the ethical challenges posed by modern society. It is a required discipline in Sweden’s state schools until the 9th grade (Alberts 2008: 4; Berglund 2015: 29).

Objectives

On this basis, the goal of “Abrahams Barn” (Children of Abraham), the pedagogical approach developed in a school in the Swedish town of Sigtuna, is to dismantle or indeed prevent prejudice against other religions as early as possible. Furthermore, the demonstration of and familiarization with the commonalities of various religions will promote a sense of community among students.

Implementation

Abrahams Barn is a pedagogical instrument for comprehensive religious education at Swedish schools. The methods referred to as “Identifikation skapar Empati (IE)” (Identification leads to Empathy) constitute the core of this approach. Role-playing games are used to draw attention to the commonalities among religions. Students take on the roles of various religious figures and answer questions in the first person as if they were those actual figures. The results are then documented

3.2.3 Abrahams Barn and the Identification Leads to Empathy methods from